Some popular myths about Germany

Have you ever wondered about “German Efficiency”? Have you heard that in Germany there is no speed limit? some of this things are total bollocks !! continue reading to find out more of these myths about Germany

“German Efficiency” – BUSTED

Before I moved in to Germany, I heard a lot about the “German Efficiency”, this one can be single-handedly the most common myth about Germany, let me tell you, Germans can be organized, clean, ecological, anything BUT efficient.

More frequently than not, they fall into the over-correctness, they have an excess of rules, street signs, laws, etc.. And don’t get me started with German Bureaucracy.

“In Germany there is no speed limit in the autobahn” – BUSTED

FALSE !!! This is another popular Myth about Germany. Sure there is no speed limit in SOME parts of the autobahn, but more regularly you will find that you switch from going without speed limit to 80 km/hr just in a few meters, and almost for sure there will be a speed camera ready to take you a nice picture and send you a fine home.

In some parts “without speed limit” you cant even run because of the traffic, or there is always a god forsaken construction work. I could drive way faster and more consistently in Texas with a speed limit of 60 -70 mph than in Germany.

“Germans are punctual” – TRUE

This point is weird, the Brits are the most famous about punctuality, but I can assure you that Germans are even more. If you ever invite a German to a party be sure to give him/her the right time because they will be there on the dot.

“Germany is a very technologically advanced country” – BUSTED

Germany is a country where you can’t use your credit card most of the times, you have to send most of the paperwork still by snail mail or fax … yeah you read that right FFFAAAAXXX who ever still uses that in this time and age??? If I have used a fax 2 times in my life is a lot !!

You will see that cellphone service is utter crap almost everywhere, they offer “LTE” and you barely get 3g if you are in luck, and forget about using internet inside the supermarket because most of the time cellphones have no signal.

In here adding the numbers “24” to website hostnames is still a thing, to make sure your customers understand that they can buy stuff 24 hrs online !! WOW !! OK I can write another full post on this matter so moving on.

“Germans are cold and unfriendly” – BUSTED

When you become a friend with a German, it’s a friend for life !! no hold backs, they will support you and help you and the bond is strong. The reason of this misconception or myth about people in Germany being cold of unfriendly is unfounded.

The thing is that, to become part of that inner circle in a German’s life it’s a bit harder than in other cultures, but once you are there it’s hard to break that bond. I can tell you, my first 2 German friends I made 3 and a half years ago I met them in the airplane coming here, I hadn’t set foot in Germany and I had my first 2 German friends.

Most importantly, they are friends that I value and love a lot. And they are 2 of the nicest persons I’ve ever met.

“Everyone speaks English in Germany” – BUSTED

That couldn’t be more wrong, I would say most Germans chew English or more or less understand it, but more common than not, if your German friend doesn’t use the language for work they tend not to speak it fluently. I attribute a lot of this to the fact that they have all their media dubbed and translated to German.

“All Germans are blonde” – BUSTED

Yeah there are many blonde Germans, but that is not the norm, most Germans I know have brown hair or even black.

These are just some of the myths I can think of, subscribe to my newsletter for more posts like this. To read more about my experience in Germany as an expat you can read my post about “Cultural differences between USA and Germany”